SPK- Spark NZ (TELCO)

[Bobdn]

Glad I only sold 20% the other day.

[Ricky99]

Auckland airport has a monopoly, spark sells a commodity. Have just moved mobile from telecom was 69 a month to 2deg for 39 a month, no diff is plan or service, explain to me how they handle that.

Also explain to me how the move to spark works when I still have to talk to Manila to sort out a problem...

[Bobdn]

Auckland airport has a monopoly, spark sells a commodity. Have just moved mobile from telecom was 69 a month to 2deg for 39 a month, no diff is plan or service, explain to me how they handle that.

Also explain to me how the move to spark works when I still have to talk to Manila to sort out a problem...

Sorry, what do you mean? I don't follow the link between rebranding as Spark and keeping a helpdesk offshore.

Just as an aside, I've always found the folk in the Philippines really helpful. I'll be interested to learn how you find the support at 2degrees.

[Major von Tempsky]

Crikey Ricky99, you're rather slow on the uptake, I moved my mobile from Vodafone to Spark a couple of months ago and I now pay rather less than $39 a month for a combined Spark smartphone/mobile and rather less than I did at Vodafone. Where do you live? Chatham Islands?

If you leave your contract going with any utility, power, phone etc etc for yonks at old prices they'll simply keep hauling the dosh in. You're already paying more at 2Deg than Spark, if you keep sleeping on 2Deg you'll find they are still charging you $39 in 5 years time although continually advancing tech makes it cheaper all the time. Companies that are fast on their feet/have good overseas partnerships can make more on a more sophisticated expanded range of services than they lose on price competition in more old fashioned services. Commodity is an easy label to throw around but we are not talking butter or litres of water but increasingly diversified and sophisticated services taking in IT, entertainment, and all sorts of stuff.

[Ricky99]

Depends how much data you want on your phone... My point is that the prices are dropping faster than the big boys can cut their costs. I can't see Simon taking cost out via it systems that fast, and he has already taken out a truckload of headcount so not much more left there. Any new products are on slim margins and people are continuing to either give up the legacy products which had higher margins or competitors are driving the price down, so the margins disappear.

Telecom held onto high roaming rates for years and now they are crashing down, or for a number of travelers they just use data services like viber and hook into free wifi when overseas.
So what I don't see is how they continue to throw off huge cash like they have in the past..

[biker]

Sorry, what do you mean? I don't follow the link between rebranding as Spark and keeping a helpdesk offshore.

Just as an aside, I've always found the folk in the Philippines really helpful. I'll be interested to learn how you find the support at 2degrees.

Support at 2 degrees is great. May take a while to get through but head and shoulders above telecom. I would pay more for that alone. Telecom have rorted us for years - in price and service.
No intention of going back. 2 degrees have taken it to Telecom and Vodaphone and I also enjoy supporting them for that reason also.
Telecoms rivers of gold deserve to regress to creeks of bronze.

[couta1]

Support at 2 degrees is great. May take a while to get through but head and shoulders above telecom. I would pay more for that alone. Telecom have rorted us for years - in price and service.
No intention of going back. 2 degrees have taken it to Telecom and Vodaphone and I also enjoy supporting them for that reason alone.

Agreed I'm very happy with 2 degrees they have great mobile plans including the best casual data usage plans.

[craic]

Somebody out there disagrees with all you parsimonious cellphone users. The price is currently 293cps and the money I have made might be more than enough to buy me a sackful of very nice phones BUT I have the cheapest model available, prepaid, and it remains in the off position, mostly somewhere in the bedroom. If I want to take it with me as an emergency device, I have to take instructions from MOH on how to switch it on. I still think we could make the $3 mark by end of market tomorrow.

[arc]

Sharp u-turn ahead.
divest & short


negative slope change from yesterday, more to come, monday will be interesting

.

[craic]

There are many sharp u-turns - look at the charts - but do you have anything to go on? People wake up as a share rises and decide that now is the time to make a profit but we are close to a dividend.

Sharp u-turn ahead